1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for assembling an antenna in an electronic device, and in particular to a method for assembling an antenna onto a plastic base of a handheld electronic device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
PIFA (planar inverted-F antenna) antennas have been introduced as internal antennas for handheld electronic devices such as mobile phones. Most of these PIFA antennas formed in metal sheets cover plastic bases to fabricate plastic antenna assemblies mounted into the electronic devices. Now shot molding is a popular method in manufacturing a plastic antenna assembly. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,716 discloses a two-shot molding process comprising molding a dielectric base structure with a first and second plastic materials and a plating process. The first plastic material forming a mounting base is not plateable. The second plateable plastic material forms a plateable base mounted on the mounting base. Then a metal-sheet antenna is plated on the plateable base in the plating process. However, this process requires a high precision in manufacturing which results in a high cost.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,837 discloses a single-shot-molding process and an electro-plating process. A plateable base is formed in the single-shot-molding process. Then the plateable base is put into an electro-plating bath that is electrically coupled. In the electro-plating process, a copper or nickel alloy is covered to the plateable base. However, the electro-plating process is also complex for assembling the antenna on the plastic base.
Hence, an improved method for manufacturing a plastic antenna assembly is desired to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings of existing method.